Some Disassembly Required: Scenes from the End of CES

LAS VEGAS -- At the official end of the Consumer Electronics Show, another grueling ritual takes over. Everything that came into Vegas has to go back whence it came. The booths are packed up. Trucks are loaded. Small exhalations of relief and satisfaction puff up from the exhibitors even before they've finished the task of loading out.

I wandered the halls and loading docks of the convention center watching this mini-city get pulled apart at the seams and packed neatly into heavy plastic cases. You'll find photos of that operation below.

But the best moment I captured was out on the loading docks. I could not believe how many different types of wheeled vehicles were being used to move people and things around. All sizes and shapes were represented, and not a single car was among them. I felt like I'd landed on the Galapagos Island of automobile technology. Here were undiscovered branches of the car evolutionary tree and each specimen was perfectly adapted to its role in the ecosystem.

I could have stood there forever watching the rough choreography of skilled work.

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